Moments in Time
by Bad Mum
Summary: Written for the "30 words or less" challenge set by MioneWazlib at the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. Moments in the life of Molly Weasley, in no particular order.
1. I

_Written for the "30 words or less" challenge set by MioneWazlib at the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. Moments in the life of Molly Weasley, in no particular order._

**Moments in Time**

**I**

_**Reality check **_

Another contraction hits, and Molly gasps.

"I can't do this!" she cries.

Arthur looks as scared as she feels. Surely they are too young to be parents?

_**Absolutely alone**_

She has seven children who love and need her, and a husband who worships the ground she walks on.

But her brothers are dead. Molly has never felt so alone.

_**Prince Charming**_

Arthur hands her the flowers and grapes, and stammers his sorrow that she is ill, and suddenly Molly's headache and streaming eyes are forgotten.

She has found her Prince.

_**Virgin**_

"It doesn't matter," Arthur tells her. "No one minds these days."

But Molly knows it does.

"Arthur, I'm three months pregnant!" she protests. "I shouldn't be wearing white."

_**Good question**_

The two boyish faces are lifted to hers expectantly.

Molly sighs, hushes little Percy, and tries to explain to Bill and Charlie just how the babies got into her tummy.

_**Can you hear me?**_

She is "Bill and Charlie and Percy and the twins' Mummy" and "Arthur's wife". She wonders if anyone knows or cares that she is still Molly.

Arthur does.

_**I'm telling**_

She is muddy and her dress is torn and her knees are grazed. Gideon pushed her over, and Fabian is laughing at her too.

Molly pouts.

"I'm telling!" she says.

_**Out of control**_

The war ended years ago.

But now it is happening again, and Molly is frightened. For herself, but mostly for her family.

She hates that she cannot keep them safe.

_**I love you**_

It is Christmas Eve. They have a shabby house, a tiny baby and no money at all.

Arthur holds her, and whispers, "I love you."

Molly has all she needs.

_**Willingness**_

Last time they kept out of it – as much as they could – for the sake of the children.

This time they have to fight - because of the children.


	2. II

**Moments in Time**

_**II**_

_**Drunk**_

The potion turns an unmistakeable gold, and Molly groans. Percy is barely a year old and she is pregnant again.

What had she been thinking? She hadn't – she was drunk.

_**Disaster**_

She hears the words but cannot make sense of them.

"Arthur is hurt. Badly. Go to St. Mungo's."

She cannot believe it until she sees him lying so still.

_**Turned off**_

The boys are settled and Arthur is kissing and stroking her and she wants him _so badly_ tonight.

A voice calls: "M-u-u-mmy! Charlie's been sick!"

The moment is gone.

_**Past, Present, Future**_

They tried to keep their children safe from the war.

Now their children are as involved in fighting as they are.

Perhaps their grandchildren will live in a safer world.

_**Dysfunctional**_

"_How_ many children?"

"You do know what causes that, don't you?"

"You're pregnant _again_?"

Molly is tired of being made to feel there is something wrong with their family.

_**Men**_

Monica is the authority on men, and she holds forth to Molly and Sally.

"Men only want one thing," she says confidently. "However nice they seem."

Molly hopes she's wrong.

_**Behind my back**_

Arthur is being very evasive about where he was last night, and where his July bonus went.

The gold necklace he gives her on Ginny's first birthday is beautiful.

_**Study sessions**_

The girls giggle and whisper and pretend not to know that Arthur and Carlos and Daniel are looking their way.

Molly wishes Arthur was looking at her, not at Monica.

_**Cut it out**_

Arthur kisses her throat hard, and his hand is further up her skirt than is decent in public.

Auntie Muriel is looking their way.

"Cut it out!" Molly hisses.

_**Dreamt**_

It may not have been the big wedding she had planned as a silly little girl, but that did not matter.

Today was better than she could have dreamt.


	3. III

_**III**_

_**Memories**_

In the daytime, sometimes, she forgets. For minutes, sometimes for hours.

(Not if George is around.)

At night, she cannot help but remember. And she does not want to forget.

_**Finish this**_

Charlie is rebelling, but Molly is adamant. Charlie was never quite this reluctant to do schoolwork before Bill left for Hogwarts.

"Finish this," Molly insists, "_then_ you can go outside."

_**Light**_

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out."

Molly does not know where that originates, but in the midst of terror, it comforts her.

_**Dark**_

The older boys gave up the charmed nightlights in their bedrooms early. (Darkness scared Percy, but he wouldn't admit it.)

The twins still have a light. Fred hates the dark.

_**Rule breaking**_

The moonlight is bright and the grounds beautiful. More important, they are alone.

The Fat Lady has stern words for Molly on her return. Arthur does not escape so lightly.

_**Holding hands**_

Arthur is fathoms deep in a Potions essay which he proclaims to be "Impossible!" and Molly is frantically revising Charms.

Under the table, their fingers are entwined together.

_**Fearful**_

When there is a knock on the door or the Floo activates, she reaches for her wand.

Voldemort died three years ago.

She wonders when she will stop feeling afraid.

_**Honour**_

People who do not know her say she should be honoured to see their names on the Memorial.

Her son.

Her brothers.

Molly wants them back.

_**Transportation**_

Molly lets go of Bill and Charlie's hands and finds a convenient tree to be sick behind.

She _hates_ Apparating in pregnancy. (But Flooing is even worse.)

_**Going in circles**_

"We can't afford it."

"We've managed before."

"But it's so tight now, Arthur. Another baby would make it worse."

"We'd manage."

"How?"

"We'd manage."

Molly doesn't know she's already pregnant.


	4. IV

**IV**

_**Psychotic**_

Molly finishes feeding George, and lays him down. Fred is still asleep.

She falls back into bed, and Fred starts crying.

She wonders if tiredness can really send you crazy.

_**Fake**_

"Another boy." Auntie Muriel sighs. "Never mind, dear. There's always next time."

Molly holds her darling baby closer, and gives her great aunt the brightest of fake smiles.

_**Amazing**_

"For you, Granny!" The little girl holds out a bunch of limp and sad-looking daisies. I picked them myself. Aren't they amazing?"

Molly smiles warmly.

"They're lovely, Victoire!" she says.

_**Tattered edges**_

Molly frowns as she struggles with the mending charm. The school robes that Bill and then Percy wore are horribly frayed.

Ron needs them now.

She wishes she was rich.

_**Hero**_

It is dark and wet, but Molly is adamant.

"Are you sure?" Arthur groans.

An hour later, he is back with salami and pickled onions.

"My hero!" Molly smiles.

_**In love**_

The room is noisy with children and grandchildren and friends.

The marvellous cake proclaims: "Happy 50th Anniversary".

Molly and Arthur are oblivious to it all, wrapped up in each other.

_**Let me out**_

She is furious. Her face is red and you can almost hear her red hair crackling with anger.

"Let me out!" she orders her laughing brothers. "Arthur's waiting for me!"

_**Sickness**_

Did she really feel this bad last time? And the time before?

Molly swallows hard and wonders why she thought that another baby was a good idea.

_**Rainbow**_

Her tears blur the glorious rainbow above them. Unexpectedly on this day of all days, she hears George laugh.

It does not feel like it, but maybe there is hope.

_**Dead tired**_

How can two children be so much harder than one? Molly is only twenty-two, but she feels old and tired.

She is definitely not having any more children.


	5. V

**V**

_**Wish upon a star**_

Molly shivers slightly. It will freeze tonight.

Someone moves behind her. She knows who it is.

"Wishing on a star?" Arthur asks, and she smiles. He knows her so well.

_**Cheating**_

"I know it was Arthur. I'm telling you for your own good."

Molly wonders why she ever liked Monica.

Arthur was on Order business yesterday, but she can't tell Monica.

_**Lurking**_

Molly nearly trips over Arthur as she exits the portrait hole.

"What are you doing there?" she demands. Arthur blushes.

"Nothing," he mutters. "Can I carry your books for you?"

_**Sunset**_

The twins and Percy are asleep on the picnic rug. The older boys are climbing the apple tree.

Molly lies with her head in Arthur's lap and enjoys the sunset.

_**Delusional**_

"She's not Bill's type. He'll get over her. He's had lots of girlfriends before. This one's no different."

She is trying to convince herself as much as Arthur.

_**Damsel in distress**_

She is late and runs too fast. She falls headlong, sending books and inks everywhere.

Arthur is there to pick them up. What would she do without him?

_**Never too late**_

Molly straightens up carefully after healing the cut on Albus' knee and catches her husband smiling at her.

"Did I ever tell you I loved you, Molly Prewett?" he asks.

_**To save a life**_

They have all drunk far too much, which is the only reason Gideon dares ask her.

"Would you kill someone, Moll?"

"To save my children," she says. She means it.

_**With all my heart**_

"I declare you bonded for life."

Molly and Arthur are oblivious to the words and the wizard saying them.

"I love you with all my heart," Arthur whispers.

_**Help me**_

The twins and Percy are sick. Bill and Charlie have not stopped fighting all day.

The minute Arthur comes in, Molly pounces on him.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!"


	6. VI

**VI**

_**Not thinking**_

Sometimes Molly deliberately tries not to think.

Of Bill's face. Of George's missing ear. Of how near Arthur came to dying.

Not thinking is the easiest way.

_**Fine line**_

There is a fine line between being proud of the children's interests and not over-encouraging the unsuitable.

Molly may have gone too far in encouraging Charlie's love of animals.

_**Disease**_

For the first month after she and Arthur start going out, Molly can't concentrate on anything else.

It is like a disease.

But she wouldn't have it any other way.

_**Quitting you**_

Their first quarrel is horrible, and over something so trivial she cannot even remember how it started.

"So do you want to split up?" Arthur demands. Molly starts to cry.

_**Nature**_

There is so much to do that Molly barely gets time to go outside.

When she does, she is surprised by the sheer ordinary beauty of the world.

_**Unfaithful**_

Molly is worried about Gideon and Marlene. She is sure Marlene is not the faithful type.

"Faithfulness doesn't matter to us," Gideon laughs. "We're not like you."

Molly doesn't understand.

_**Attention**_

Percy is scribbling industriously in his writing book, and little Ronnie is trying hard with his letters.

The twins are laughing and kicking at Percy.

"Pay attention!" Molly tells them.

_**Missing out**_

Andromeda has visited with her daughter, and although Nymphadora is a tomboy, Molly can't help but wonder, as she deals with the boys' bedtime, if she's missing out on something.

_**Broken**_

With six boys, things are always getting broken. Molly has almost ceased to care.

Until Bill breaks the vase Arthur gave her for their first Christmas. She cries about that.

_**Why not**_

There are good reasons not to get married now.

They are too young. The times are too dangerous.

"Of course I'll marry you," Molly tells Arthur.


	7. VII

**VII**

_**Classy**_

She looks at the necklace in the jeweller's window. With three kids, two more on the way and little money, she can only dream of such classy things.

_**Confident**_

"I'll get an 'E' at least." Bill says.

"Of course we'll win!" Charlie insists.

Molly wishes Percy was half as confident as his brothers.

_**Confusing**_

"George?" Fred asks, pointing at the mirror.

"Molly is tired out, but she laughs.

"No, Fred, love. It's you," she tells him.

Fred looks even more confused.

_**Controlling**_

"I've got the job, Mum," Charlie says flatly. "I'm going to Romania."

Molly opens her mouth to argue , but catches Arthur's eye.

She has to let her kids grow up.

_**Don't Leave Me**_

Molly was sure it was not this bad with Billy or Charlie.

She grips Arthur's hand as another contraction hits.

"Don't leave me," she gasps.

_**Different**_

"A girl? Are you sure?" Molly says when Arthur tells her.

She thought she knew all about babies and children, but this will be different, that's for sure.

_**Modesty**_

Since the twins were born, Molly undresses in the dark and won't let Arthur look.

"Too many stretchmarks," she says. "I'm ugly."

He kisses her softly. "Never to me."

_**Home**_

She reads _Witch Weekly_ and sighs over the beautiful, stylish, tidy houses in there.

But The Burrow is home and she wouldn't really change it.

_**Believe Me**_

Arthur had something on at work and couldn't go with her to the Healer appointment.

Now he looks astounded and unbelieving and horrified.

"Believe me," Molly tells him. "It's twins."

_**Words**_

They have their first proper row ten days after the wedding. Molly lies in bed, crying.

"I'm sorry," Arthur whispers.

Words can heal as well as hurt.


	8. VIII

**VIII**

_**Anger Welling**_

"You should be ashamed of yourself. Six children in the middle of a war. Just irresponsible!"

Molly is furious. "Why are we fighting if not for the future?" she spits.

_**Judgment**_

"He started it!"

"No, I didn't! It was him!"

"It wasn't! Really, Mum!"

"Sounds to me like it was both of you. Up to your room until lunchtime!

_**Companionship**_

Molly is knitting the Christmas sweaters and Arthur is reading the _Prophet _with a frown on his face.

He reaches out and takes her hand without looking up. She smiles.

_**Left Out**_

Bill and Charlie and the twins are playing in the orchard, and the babies are asleep.

Percy is sitting quietly in the corner reading.

Molly worries about him.

_**My Life**_

The baby cries and she hauls herself out of bed yet again. Arthur mutters something, but does not wake.

But he smiles in his sleep when she comes back.

_**Testing the Limits**_

"Will you still love me when I'm bald?"

"How about if I get fat?"

"What about when I'm fifty?"

At sixteen and seventeen such things seem impossible to contemplate.

_**Relief**_

The Healer is coming towards them and she feels Bill's hand tighten on hers. Then the Healer smiles at them.

"Your husband will recover, Mrs Weasley."

_**Emotional**_

"Mummy, why are you crying?" Ronnie's little face is concerned.

She tries to smile. "I'm not dear, I'm fine."

And she carries on sorting out Bill's new school robes.

_**Stubborn**_

She is six months pregnant and was up half the night with Ronnie. She is worn out.

"Molly, go to bed," Arthur orders, but she shakes her head. "I'm fine."

_**Around the Corner**_

They hold each other in the dark without speaking for a long time. They cannot keep their children safe from this war.

They dread what the future will bring.


	9. IX

**IX**

_**I Remember**_

It is their first night out together since Billy arrived, and Molly is pregnant again. She feels fat, tired and frumpy.

"I love you," Arthur murmurs.

"I remember," she smiles.

_**Cuts**_

"Mu-u-um! Charlie fell out of the apple tree!"

"Mummy, I fell down!"

"Mummy, Fred pushed me over!"

Molly is only too used to dealing with cuts and scrapes.

_**Fresh**_

Molly smiles at Percy in his highchair, and wonders where the older boys are.

Two minutes later, they run in, clutching bunches of ragged daisies

"They're fresh!" Bill says earnestly.

_**Train of Thought**_

Molly is wondering if Charlie's relationship with Andromeda's girl will last. Arthur is talking.

"Well, Moll?"

She looks at him vaguely. "Sorry, dear, I lost my train of thought."

_**The Truth**_

"He has to come back now he knows it was true all the time, doesn't he?" Molly asks tearfully.

Arthur shakes his head sadly. "I hope so, dear."

_**Pain**_

Every time, every single time, she forgets how much labour hurts.

"This is definitely the last one, Arthur," she gasps between contractions. "Six is enough."

_**Recovery**_

Molly finds herself singing as she watches the boys playing, and cradles her baby girl.

Her brothers have been dead eight months. Is it wrong to feel happy?

_**Beauty**_

She frowns at herself in the mirror. Tomorrow, she will be forty, and she feels very old.

Arthur comes up behind, and kisses her neck. "Hello, beautiful" he whispers.

_**Grief**_

Grief creeps up on her when she doesn't expect it. A word, the look in Ginny's eyes, George's smile that is never quite what it used to be...

Oh, Fred.

_**Background**_

Auntie Muriel is talking to her mother, and Molly is getting crosser and crosser.

"Who is this Arthur Weasley, anyway?" Muriel demands. "What's his background?"


	10. X

**X**

_**Small World**_

"Lovely to see you," gushes Magda. "It's a small world."

Magda is a career witch. Molly has five kids. They have nothing in common any more, small world or not.

_**Go the Distance**_

Sometimes Molly panics. Will Arthur still love her in ten years? In twenty? In fifty?

Then he smiles at her, and she knows he will go the distance.

_**Run Away**_

She barely feels old enough to have left school, let alone to be married with a baby due any day.

But she can't run away now.

_**Shallow**_

Percy is howling, and the twins are protesting at being told off.

"He's not that wet!"

"It was only a shallow puddle we pushed him in!"

_**Shine**_

Molly attacks the house at Grimmauld Place as if cleanliness can somehow win the war.

She will make this old place shine.

_**Reach**_

She wishes Bill and Charlie had gone for jobs in England. It feels as if they are far too far out of her reach these days.

_**For You**_

Charlie puts the tray across her knees, and Bill spills half the tea as he sets the cup down.

Percy holds out a bunch of flowers. "For you," he says.

_**Pinky Promise**_

"Don't forget me when you go to Egypt!" Ginny implores.

Bill grins at his mother over his baby sister's head as he links little fingers with her. "'Course I won't!"

_**Squeaky Clean**_

She looks the boys up and down as they get ready to leave for Muriel's.

"Are you sure you washed?" she asks darkly.

"We're squeaky clean!" say the twins together.

_**Dance**_

The music swirls round them and Arthur's arms are tight around her.

Sometimes, even now, all the world recedes, and all there is is the two of them.


End file.
